Braiding-machine.



P. W. PLUMB. BRAIDING MACHINE, APPLICATION FILED AUG. 3, 1909.

WITIVESSES:

Patented Oct. 10, 1911 8 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

lf/VE/VTOB Frederic mph/m5 W w mamas F. W. PLUMB. I BRAIDING MAGHINEE APPIJOATIOH FILED AUG. 3, 1909.

'Patgnted Oct 10,1911.

SSHEETS-SHEET 2.

5 4. R! .H m? Wm M a W 6 WIN/8858 P. W. PLUMB, BRAIDING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED AUG. 3, 1909.

Patented Get. 1%), 1911.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

to machines or tl s new FBEDERIC W. PLUMB, OF NEXV YORK, N. Y ASSIGNOR TO THE SUTRO BROS. BRAID CO., 0]? NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

BRAIDING-MACHINE.

To all whom it may c'oncernf Be it known that I, FRnoERIo W. PLUMB, a citizen of the United States. residing at New York, in the county of New York and State of New York, have invented new and useful Improvements in Braidinghlachines, of which the following is a spec fication.

This invention relates to improvements in braiding machines for the production of what are known as radium braids which figured or embroidery effects of overthreads w ut warp andlace 4 'ding machines cier, J" ()n Li aann. Louis Bran s. It more particularr; 1e lasttype that th se improvements apply. The effect of these improvements has been to reduce the number of parts to pref nt the colliding of carri' as, and to give increased production. My invention can also be applied to braiding machines having only one circle of gears thereby making of any ilat or tubular braiiler, a two thread lace mac-line. In this case only one half the usual number of braiding carriers are employed. in braiding machines of this latter construction, it is possible to ponfine or restrict. in certain portions of the raceway groups of carriers thereby producing stripe effects.

The invention rally described in connection with the accompanying drawings and the novel features are especially pointed out. 7

Figure 1 is a plan of part of a braiding machine having two circles of gears showing the connnunicating' raccways with switches controlling the movements of the carriers therein. Fig. 2 shows on the left a group of horn gears from the same ma chine, the top plate having beenremoved, and on the right both plates are removed to show the manner of joining the switch le vers. Fig. 3 is a sectional elevation of one pair of vibrating switches. Fig. lis a side view of Fig. 53. Fig. 5 is a perspective View of one of the switch tongues with its semi- Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed August 3, 1909.

Patented 0613. it), 1911. Serial No. 510,992.

in the raceway at the left, represent the path when forming a figure 8 or soutache effect. As may be seen switch B is opened for the oncoming carrier 7; by means of a lover 0 under the top plate and just under the flange of horn gear 7 and against which the pin j on the bottom of the carrier bears, said lever being connected to the arm g of switch B by means of a wire 1" under the bottom plate, best seen in Fig. 2. A spring 3 is connected to the switch B and when the pin j of the carrier strikes the cam lever c" it actuates the lever to move the switchagainst the tension of the spring. This construction which is novel in braiding machines and to which I desire to call particular attention has several important functions. It does away with the'use of a yacquarcl machine or a cam to work these switches the switch cannot open unless a 3 carrier passes around horn gear 7 hence all danger of collisions is avoided from defective pattern cards or broken jacquard mechanism and the switch is always opened at exactly the righttime. Another important point is, that although switches B and U must open at the same time as seen in Fig. l where the pins j and 7e of'the carriers are shown as passing the points of these switches at the same moment when turning carriers back to produce lace effects, it is always necessary that a carrier coming from the left side should be allowed to pass switch B, before the latter is opened and a carrier is at the same moment starting to go about the outrun to its right. If this were not done there would be too many carriers in the section to the left of the switch B, and a collision would ensue, because there would not be enough horns in the gears to provide passage for that carrier. This is made possible by placing the cam lever c,

i switch when the carrier has passed about two-thirds of the race circle of horngear 7 and holds it open until the pin 9' of a carrier is well past the point. For a like reason when lace or stripe effects are being produced, it is necessary to prevent carriers passing from the outer or main raceway to theinner raceway through switch 6 should the pattern cards be defective or the jacquard mechanism fail. I have connected switch I) to switch B by means of a linked wire m in two parts. When so connected, the carrier which opens and controls switch B also holds switch I) closed so that nocarrier can run out, thus effectually preventing collisions through such a cause. The wire connection, when switch I; is wanted for radium effects becauseof being linked together, slides on itself and does not affect switch B. It has not been found necessary to control the other switch Z) of the pair because no carriers can get past switch a which is always vibrating, being positively driven by an eccentric or cam for which no novelty can be claimed as such controlled switches are well known in an old type of French braiding machine. One eccentric or cam drives the whole circle of switches a a a which are linked together by means of flat connecting straps a: m under the bottom plate.

In Fig. 2 can be seen the manner in which the two-horn gear 6 and the three-horn gear 5 are appliedto the four-horn gear V to form a figure 8 raceway of a three and five horn gear which is necessary for lace effects. This is believed to be novel as heretofore this effect has always been produced by adding three and five horn gears to the main raceway orby the use of long and short horn gears, as in U. S. Patent #894,022. The use of five horn gears as outruns in two concentric circle braiding machines, is objectionable as it causes the braider carriers to travel over a long distance from the inner circle of gears through the maincircle and thence around the five horn outrun. In a radium braider so built, this distance would be ten inches which would cause the tension weights to rise five inches requiring a very high carrier, at least ten inches from the top plate to the thread eye in its top. Such a carrier does not wear well in prac tice, owing to the effect of centrifugal force in passing around the horn gear circles. \Vith the long and short horn gear method of forming a five horn gear of a four horn with care. there is danger of the carriers shppmg off the short horns at some other point than the place'desired. In my invenshown in German patent of December 13,

1906, #1i9,886 and used in all radium braiding machines are used two switch points or tongues brazed to tubes, the one telescoping inside the other. There is danger in such a device of one tube sticking to its mate or that the set screw of the crank arm which actuat-es the outer tube may be tightened too much and cause it to stick to the inner tube. In such cases, both switches work together and either spoil the braid because carriers run out of place, or cause carriers to collide with the point of the switch that is sticking to its mate. It is also not possible to use very large warp filling tubes in such a switch because the stationary tube or post in which the telescoped tubes vibrate has to be kept quite small in diameter to permit the bottom flange of the carriers to pass it. Lack of room for switches caused the abandonment of the German Pat. No. 55,401 above cited, which showed two independent single tongue switches side by side. In order to make room for. these switches very large horn gears had to be used. Thisresulted in a very costly machine and slow production. The telescopic switch allowed the -use of standard horn gears of 7 6 mm. pitch diameter for the inner circle of gears and made the radium braiding machine a commercial possibility.

My invention not only takes up less room, but allows the use of a much largerv warp filling post or tube so that braided or other large warp fillings can be usedand a larger variety of pattern effects obtained. The switch stems being all alike, makes this a cheaper switch to construct.

Figs. 3 and 4 this device consists of two similar tongues or switch points I), b secured to semi-tubular stems d, cl. These aresupported by a stationary tube or post c towhich is brazed the points f, fwhich completefthe raceways.

q is a loose tube kept in placeby small SlJGID Sd, d. v x v r Fig. 5 is a perspective View of one ofthe In that switch there There is also, no danger of one switch tube sticking to the other from any cause. As will-be'seen switch points with its stem which is self explanatory as is also the tubular switch post in, Fig, 6.

VVhile a preferred construction and arrangement of parts are specifically shown and described they may be modified without departing from the invention.

- I, claim 1. In a braiding machine, a series of supplementary out-running raceways formed by the combination of a two-horn gear and a three-horn gear with a-four-horn gear circle,

together with studs and plates and single and double vibrating switches to form a soutache (figure 8 racewayof a threehorn gear and a five-horn gear equivalent.

2. In abraiding machine, a vibrating switch, a vibrating cam lever, a connecting rod between said switch and said cam lever, a spring attached to said cam lever and to said switch, a second switch connected to the vibrating switch, abraiding carrier having a pin to engage the cam lever to move the first switch against the tension of the spring. i

ing witnesses.

FREDERIC WV. PLUMB. Witnesses:

CHRISTIAN ALMsTAEDT, IVM. E, WARLAND. 

